CORECapital has partnered with Gobi Partners, a top Asian venture capital (VC) firm with over US$1.1 billion (RM4.56 billion) in Assets Under Management (AUM), to launch a US$10 million (RM41.44 million) fund dedicated to support seed-stage and pre-Series A companies in the Philippines.

The Gobi-Core Philippine Fund (the PH Fund) will be co-managed by Core Capital, a new VC based in the Philippines founded by Carlo Delantar (Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018), Jason Gaisano, and its managing partner Ken Ngo.

The Fund’s initial focus is on B2B e-commerce, platform-as-a-service (PaaS), health tech and logistic companies, and plans to expand into other sectors including travel, entertainment and retail tech in the future.

Gobi Partners, led by its founding partner Thomas G Tsao (pic, above), its managing partner Kay-Mok Ku, and supported by its teams across China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia will contribute its proven track record, tested processes and best practices to provide fund administration, advisory and investment support to this new partnership.

Speaking on the PH Fund, Tsao said, “We are very excited to make our first foray into the country together with Core Capital. We’ve been consistently amazed by the level of entrepreneurial talent in the Philippines. The same growth patterns that occurred in China and Indonesia are now happening in the Philippines.”

Core Capital managing partner Ngo (pic, right) adds, “We believe in the Philippines, and at the same time, we also understand that there’s still so much that we can learn from other countries and VCs. With this partnership with Gobi, we are confident that we can strategically connect local and regional stakeholders. The creation of the Gobi-Core PH Fund puts us in a unique position to add value and support founders in the country’s growing startup ecosystem.”

Both Core and Gobi believe that there’s more to this partnership than just the establishment and management of the PH Fund. Now, Philippine-based startups will have access and can also leverage on not just on Core’s vast Philippine network and business operating experience but also Gobi’s regional platform to help them scale across China and other Southeast Asian countries.

Founded in 2002, Gobi has invested in many key emerging sectors through its ten funds under management and 200 companies in its portfolio.

Despite its 16-year history, this will be Gobi’s first entry into the Philippines and the newly launched PH Fund shall act on Core and Gobi’s belief in the favourable timing, the potential of the country’s economy and the growing purchasing power of its young population.